


i'll keep you like an oath

by reachedthebitterend



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/pseuds/reachedthebitterend
Summary: five times michael says he’s married and no one believes him, and one time they do
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 7
Kudos: 226





	i'll keep you like an oath

**Author's Note:**

> Written On: 10/11/19

**one.**

Maria slides over the tray full of beers to one of the servers, and grabs the rag to wipe down the counters glancing at the clock.

Her shift is over in a few minutes and her mom did promise that she could have the night off.

Maria wanted to go dancing, and maybe pick up someone hot who wouldn’t mind being used to blow off a little steam.

Her gaze passes over Michael Guerin sitting in the corner of the bar, nursing the same beer he’s had for the last hour or so.

Maria had asked if he wanted a fresh one or even a refill for one of his drinks, but he’d just told her that he was taking it easy.

There was something about him tonight that Maria couldn’t quite put her finger on, but it was something that made her want to try and see if he was as good as some of the rumors about him said that he was.

Tonight would be the night to try, he wasn’t drunk and spoiling for a fight or trying to seduce half the bar, and he had actually put in an effort into his appearance. His shirt actually looked new, without any holes or oil stains anywhere. His jeans were too faded to be new, but they weren’t torn anywhere. Even his hair was tamed when he’d taken the cowboy hat off, and while he wasn’t clean shaven, it was obvious that he’d made an attempt to shave as well.

He looked _good_ , and Maria knew it might be a bad idea, but given his reputation, he wasn’t going to follow her around like a love sick fool after a roll around in the sack.

Decision made, she drops the rag back down in its spot and casts a look over to the mirror to make sure that she still looks as good as she did when she got down to the bar.

She makes her way over to him, and he’s already leaning back in his chair and giving her a sweet smile.

“You’ve passed by my table more times tonight than any other night, is there something that I can do for you?”

Maria smiles back at him, and tries not to bristle at the fact that she wasn’t being subtle at all.

“Actually,” she says and leans over the table slightly, knowing exactly how the move exposes her cleavage even more. “There is.”

Michael raises an eyebrow, but his gaze doesn’t stray away from her face.

“A few of us are going to the new place that just opened up on the corner of Sixth and Main, and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along. Maybe dance a little. Buy me a drink that I don’t have to make myself.

"Sorry,” he says, and while his tone sounds apologetic there is something in his eyes that tells her he’s not sorry at all. “Wish that I could, but I’m busy tonight.”

“Yeah?” She asks just a little put out, but mostly wanting to know what exactly is so important that he would say no when he’s constantly flirting and she’s always telling him no.

“Yeah,” he says, and gives her a little shrug. “My husband is back in town.”

Maria feels the rush of embarrassment at the rejection hit her full force and she leans back away from Michael, giving him a look.

“You know if you’re not interested that’s all you had to say. There’s no reason for you to lie.”

Michael’s face falls, and he opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, Maria turns and heads back over to the bar.

She ducks into the supply room and spends the last few minutes of her shift, pretending to look for a bottle and hoping the mortification goes away before she has to go back out there and face him again.

By the time Maria makes it back out to the bar, her shift has been over for fifteen minutes and Michael is nowhere to be seen.

She exhales in relief and waves goodbye to Drew as he takes his spot behind the bar.

Looks like another story that she’s not going to tell Alex when they meet up tomorrow for breakfast before his flight back to Washington, but she still has plenty of other ones to keep him entertained.

**two.**

Isobel is happy, seriously very happy, but if she has to sign one more paper, she’s going to tell Noah that they’re never getting married.

She makes a noise, and Michael passes over the bottle of acetone he’d been sipping from, but she just pushes his hand away.

“No wonder no one is getting married these days,” she says with a sigh, and turns to look at him tired of seeing black and white. “If I had known there was this much paperwork involved, I would’ve told Noah, no.”

Michael just rolls his eyes. “You’re marrying a lawyer, of course there is paperwork, but also, you should’ve just gone straight to the court, the church has way too many papers and restrictions, because they want you to be one hundred percent sure.”

Michael tips the bottle to his mouth, taking a swallow, and Isobel just watches him with a raised eyebrow.

Michael just looks back at her with a furrowed brow.

“How do you even know that?” She asks. “Was one of your one night stands a court clerk?”

Michael just shrugs and looks away, shoulders hunching a little. “I know because that’s how I did it.”

“Did what?” She asks narrowing her eyes.

Michael sighs, “Got married. I’m married.”

Isobel can’t help the stutter of laughter, and when Michael turns indignant eyes on her, like he would actually get married without her, she bursts into laughter. A peel of giggles that turn slightly hysterical, and makes her eyes wet with tears.

By the time Isobel manages to get control of herself, Michael is hunched down in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, a pout on his face.

“I really needed that laugh,” she says, giving him a wide smile that dims a little when his pout gets even more pronounced.

She rolls her eyes at him. “Oh come on, like you expected me to actually believe that you’re married. First of all, who on earth would want to get married to you? No offence, but you’re not exactly prime husband material. And second, even if you did find someone to make an honest man out of you, you would never take that step without letting me know.”

Michael doesn’t respond, only pushes himself out of his seat. “I’m going to get a beer, you want one?”

“A glass of wine,” she answers, and stares as he heads into the kitchen, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

He waves a hand at her, and she looks back down at the paperwork in front of her and sighs, picking up her pen back up again.

**three.**

Max is finishing his reports when Michael starts showing signs of life inside of the drunk tank.

Max senses that there is a pattern to Michael’s behaviour, a reason why, he can go weeks, even months without seeing the inside of the drunk tank, and then spend months where one day doesn’t go by without him ending up there.

But he can’t quite make it out. It’s too random for him to make sense of it.

A vibrating sound comes from the inside of Max’s desk drawer, and he slides it open and takes a look at Michael’s phone curious to see who would be calling him so early in the morning.

_AG_ , flashes across the screen. Max frowns not recognizing the initials as anyone that he knows, and looks back to Michael who is sitting up, leaning back against the wall, head tipped towards the ceiling, eyes shut tight like he has a headache.

Max thinks about offering him some acetone to take the edge off his hangover, but decides against it.

He doesn’t want Michael to think that he supports his choice of coping mechanisms.

The phone starts vibrating again and Max looks back down and his frown deepens when he sees that it’s _AG_ again.

He looks up to find Michael watching him through narrowed eyes.

“This is getting old,” Max starts and Michael just scoffs and rolls his eyes, leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed, like he’s already over the conversation.

Max feels the spark of anger inside of him that he pushes down, and then it’s replaced by annoyance as Michael’s phone beeps with incoming messages.

He looks down as the last message disappears saying, _Guerin, please call me back. It’s important._

“Who is AG?” He asks, looking up at Michael and catching the startled expression expression his face before he seems to realize that Max has his phone and he goes through several expressions, including fear and panic before settling on resigned.

The phone vibrates again and Max sees, _And you’re late, so hurry up._

He looks back up to Michael who just exhales roughly.

“It’s my husband,” he drawls. “Who’s probably really worried right now, so if you can-”

He makes a motion like he expects Max to hand him the phone and Max just shuts the drawer again and stands up to round his desk so he can lean on it.

“Keep your secrets,” Max says. “And while getting you out of the drunk tank without you needing to pay bail is something that Sheriff Valenti is willing to overlook, I didn’t become a cop to help you avoid the repercussions of breaking the law.”

Michael’s brow furrows and Max just looks at him expectantly.

Silence falls between them broken only by the sound of Michael’s phone vibrating in the desk.

“Looks like someone really wants to get a hold of you,” Max says, and Michael just exhales roughly. “Hope you don’t owe them too much money.”

Michael just ignores him, and to Max’s surprise stays quiet until Max lets him out.

**four.**

“Fuck,” is the only thing Liz hears when she feels the spray of something hit her.

She looks up at Michael and sees that instead of working on his stuff, he’d been tinkering around with one of the vials she had in the fridge.

“Shower,” she says immediately, pushing him towards the corner where the decontamination shower is. “Now,” she says, when he tries to protest.

Liz pulls her coat off and starts to unbutton her shirt, and looks to see that Michael is frozen watching her like he has no idea what she’s doing.

“Take your clothes off, Mikey,” she says and pushes him into the actual shower when he just makes a face at the nickname but makes no move to undress himself. 

“I’m gonna finish and then I’m turning on the shower, if you’re not undressed by then, I’m going to make sure that Kyle brings you scrubs that are a size too small.”

Liz goes back to unbuttoning her shirt and she hears the rustle of fabric as Michael starts to do what she says.

Liz leaves her underwear on, and stops Michael from pulling off his boxers.

“We’re gonna go commando because there is no way that you’re going to see me naked right now, or ever.”

Michael just rolls his eyes but doesn’t protest, until Liz turns the shower on and it pummels them both with icy cold water.

Michael lets her scrub down first and then while she texts Kyle and pushes their tainted clothes towards the sanitary bin, he scrubs himself down.

Kyle appears as soon as Michael shuts off the shower, but he doesn’t say much as he hands over the scrubs and towels, giving Liz a look before he turns back to finish his rounds.

Liz throws a towel at Michael who catches it and starts drying his hair immediately.

Liz dries herself off and pulls the scrubs on while Michael turns away from her to give her a little bit of privacy.

Liz wraps her hair up in the towel, and then turns to see that Michael is struggling to pull the scrub over his head.

She shakes her head and walks over to their clothes, putting on a pair of gloves and she grabs everything and puts it in the bin, which is a bummer because she really liked that shirt.

She shakes Michael’s jeans to make sure there isn’t anything in his pockets and necklace falls out.

She puts the jeans in the bin and picks the necklace up. There is a metal shard, that kind of looks like it was part of a bigger pendant, and there are some numbers stamped on it, along with a silver ring that looks suspiciously like a wedding band.

She turns to see Michael watching her with an unsure expression.

“This yours?” She asks, holding it out. “I didn’t know you were the necklace wearing type.”

“I’m not,” Michael says and very carefully takes the necklace back from her. “It belongs to my husband.”

“You’re married?” Liz asks, incredulous and highly skeptical.

Michael just stuffs the necklace into his pocket and shrugs. “Technically separated, and filing for divorce, but yeah.”

He turns around heading towards the mess he made, and Liz watches him wondering what could be so bad that he finds telling someone about a divorce easier than telling the truth.

**five.**

Kyle isn’t the trauma surgeon on duty, but that doesn’t stop him from waiting at the OR doors, and looking through the window.

Alex looks pale and bloody, but he’s strong, Kyle knows that he’s going to make it.

A car accident isn’t what’s going to kill Alex. Not after everything they’ve been through.

Kyle is trying not to fall into old habits, like biting his nails, when one of the nurses on duty walks down the hall, and sighs in relief when he spots him.

“There’s an angry cowboy out there demanding information about your trauma victim, and he’s refusing to leave unless-”

Kyle doesn’t hear the rest because he’s already moving towards the doors.

Alex hadn’t exactly told him what had happened between him and Michael, but Kyle wasn’t an idiot, and he could put two and two together and come up with the right answer, like the fact that Michael had sex with Maria and that Alex had been avoiding going to the Wild Pony since Max died, meant that Alex didn’t want to see Michael, and Kyle was more than ready to keep it that way.

He spots Michael right away, arguing with someone at the front desk.

The nurse sitting there gives Kyle a grateful look, and tilts her head towards the button that calls security.

Kyle nods his head and then looks at Michael, who’s turned to look at him.

Kyle takes in the wild desperate eyes and the flushed cheeks and the way that he seems to be trembling slightly, and he feels a pang in his chest.

But Alex comes first, and until he’s awake enough to tell him what to do, he’s going to make sure that everything remains the same.

“How is he?” He asks, taking a few steps closer to Kyle.

Kyle inhales deeply. “He’s in surgery. You can’t really be out here harassing the staff for information. I’ll-”

Michael bristles immediately. “I can harass whoever I want when they won’t tell me how he’s doing.”

Kyle shakes his head, “There are rules that we have to follow. We can’t just give out patient information to anyone. It can only be family or next of kin.”

Michael shakes his head, slightly. “Alex _is_ my family.”

Kyle inhales deeply again, “And I get that. But unless you have a paper that says you’re next of kin, there is nothing that I can do.”

“He’s my fucking husband,” Michael snaps, moving to get into Kyle’s space, and being detained by two burly security guards immediately. 

“No,” he says, pulling away from them. “What are you doing?”

The security officer says something, but Michael is fighting too hard for him to actually be heard.

“I am his husband!” Michael yells, as they start to drag him out. “You can’t just drag me out of here! I have a reason to be here! Tell them!”

He looks at Kyle wild eyed, and Kyle thinks that maybe Michael has really gone off the deep end.

“I’ll let you know once he gets out of surgery, but you can’t be here,” Kyle answers, and nods his head at the security guards.

Michael stops fighting them, and Kyle exhale in relief when the elevator door closes.

The nurse at the desk gives him a smile, and Kyle gives her one back before he goes back to Alex.

He wonders if Alex knows that Michael is going around telling people that they’re married.

**and one.**

Michael is drunk enough that when Alex sits down next to him he whistles long and low and appreciatively.

“I must be in heaven,” Michael says, and Alex furrows his brow in confusion. “Because you my darling are most definitely an angel.”

“Oh my god,” Alex says, and takes the beer before Michael can drink the rest of it. “How drunk are you?”

Michael just sighs, “You are without a doubt the most beautiful person I have ever seen.”

Alex bites down on his lip and then drinks down the rest of Michael’s beer.

When he sets the bottle down and turns to Michael, who is staring at him with wide eyes. Well, staring at his mouth.

“You have a real pretty mouth,” he drawls, and Alex, just smirks and licks his bottom lip.

Michael groans and sways into him.

“You shouldn’t tease like that unless you’re willing to put your mouth where your money is.”

Alex bites down on the small burst of laughter that wants to come out, and leans into Michael’s space.

“Who says I’m not willing?” Alex asks, looking into Michael’s eyes and then dropping his gaze deliberately to Michael’s mouth.

Michael groans low and like he’s in pain.

“You have no idea how much I wish I could, darling, but I’m a married man.”

Alex can’t help the laughter that escapes him at that.

“I know,” he says when Michael starts to pout. “I’m your husband.”

Michael’s eyes go wide and bright. “Really?”

Alex nods his head.

“How did I manage that?” Michael asks, sounding impressed with himself. 

Alex just shakes his head.

“You asked and I said yes, and then a whole bunch of stuff happened, but last week you asked me to renew our vows, and I said yes, and it was a wonderful ceremony that we let your sister plan.”

Michael blinks at him, and Alex finds the confused and awed look on his face really endearing.

“I got you to marry me twice?” He asks sounding stupidly shocked.

Alex just laughs again and leans in close enough that he feels Michael inhale sharply.

“I love you,” he says, and Michael’s eyes go even wider. “I’ll marry you as many times as you want.”

He takes advantage of Michael’s shock to press a kiss across his mouth, light and sweet.

Michael looks dazed when Alex pulls back.

“Lucky me,” Michael whispers, and then leans in to kiss Alex and misses, pressing the kiss to his cheek.

Alex smiles and fits his hands around Michael’s jaw and moves him into the right position to drag his drunk husband into a proper kiss.


End file.
